Knowing the 1st sack is truly the sweetest

BALTIMORE — Through the first three games of this season and much of the fourth, Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack was like an annoying fly, buzzing around, getting swatted at, but not landing. Too much buzz, not enough bite.

Then the fly landed. Mack got his first sack of the season — much anticipated, eagerly awaited, by him and everyone who has been touting him as the NFL’s Next Great Sack Master.

Sacks aren’t everything, but that’s like saying looks aren’t everything in a beauty contest. Mack’s first bag job came in the fourth quarter, Baltimore in a 21-12 hole, Joe Flacco scrambling, 2nd-and-16 at the Ravens’ 37.

“Oh, man, it was a cool moment,” Mack said in the winners’ locker room. “I came off a chip block, threw the tackle outside, came in, and everybody had (flushed Flacco) out to my left. It was a cool feeling, man.”

Mack got off to a slow sack start last season, no sacks in his first two games. Then he sacked himself 15 quarterbacks and became the toast of football, a big-time, magazine-cover emerging star.

His lack of apparent impact through the first three games this season was chalked up by head coach Jack Del Rio to Mack getting extra attention from defenses, some of that attention of questionable legality. Too much grabbing and holding?

Whatever. On Sunday, Mack was on. He was buzzing hard around Flacco most of the day. The Raiders’ defense was cooking.

“Everybody wants to talk about the first sack and the sacks” (Bruce Irvin had the other), Mack said, “but all those things come when you’re playing good defense.

“Early, (the Raiders’ defense) was clicking, and everyone was playing ball and everyone was doing their job, and so you’ve seen the quarterback hits, you’ve seen the holding calls (on the Ravens), you’ve seen all those things because we were gonna get (to the quarterback) regardless.”

But hey, there’s nothing quite like a sack.

“It’s always great to get the quarterback,” Mack said, “know what I’m saying? Whether it’s the first (sack of the season) or the last. The first is cool, but they say they come in bunches. I was ready to get two or three.”

Maybe next Sunday. Chargers, in Oakland.